"We could easily just give up, or we made it to the Sweet 16, nobody expected us to take it this far, we're good enough, we don't have to win this game. But I really feel like everybody's going to D.C. to win, and we're hungry, we're just hungry for more and want to keep winning," Vander Blue said.

"You know, when you get to where there's only 16 teams left playing, it's not one player, it's not two players, it's not one coach. Everybody is at an elite level, and everybody's playing for a national championship," coach Buzz Williams said.

Photos: Marquette players leave for Sweet Sixteen

1 of 43

Marquette University held a pep rally as the men's basketball team left for their Sweet Sixteen matchup in Washington D.C.

Hillary Clinton's office said "nothing nefarious was at play" when the former secretary of state used her personal email address, rather than one provided by the State Department, during her four years as America's top diplomat.